Eternal Affections
by boasamishipper
Summary: AU. After the Blackout, Maggie Foster thought she was alone in the world. But she wasn't. Kelly, her estranged older sister, was all she had left. And Maggie wasn't about to let her go. Alternating between the past and the present. My first multi-chap story! Please review!
1. Musings of a President

**Eternal Affections by Boasamishipper**

**AU. After the Blackout, Maggie Foster thought she was alone in the world. But she wasn't. Kelly, her estranged older sister, was all she had left. And Maggie wasn't about to let her go. Alternating between the past and the present. My first multi-chap story! Please review!**

The sun was setting, sending streaks of dark orange and red into the creamy pink sky. It was a beautiful sight that not very many people had ever cared to lay eyes on, yet she was not paying any attention to it.

She paced around her study, her arms behind her back, intently studying the carpet between rotations. She finally sat at her desk, flipping through a stack of papers until she had found the one that she was looking for. Biting her lip, she stared at it until she cast it aside impatiently.

Her country was in danger. She had no time to look over the list of complaints from her soldiers about misbehaving civilians. If a war was started, soon her city would not have any citizens.

It had started out from tiny clusters of shacks sprouting up around the skyscrapers. Men and women alike had eventually learned to farm crops and start businesses, making important things vital for their survival. Her army was now one of the best in the remains of the continent, beating the Monroe Republic and the California Commonwealth by a landslide. She was proud of the way her country had grown.

But it soon would be torn down by either the Rebels or the Monroe Republic.

The Rebels, she surmised, were only in it for the thrill of a revolution. If (not when, if) they ever got control of anything, they would not know what to do with it. Tyrannies and dictatorships would break out, and yet more people would die because of the Blackout. The Rebels were stupid, power-hungry people with an adrenaline addiction, she thought.

Sebastian Monroe, of course, was no different. He was a ruthless, power-hungry megalomaniac. Before, of course, General Matheson had left; he had been much kinder to his people. Naturally, now Monroe was the butt of several jokes of how he obviously could not take any rejection.

She gazed serenely into the candles flickering on her desk, at the red rug on the floor, at the blinds on the windows. She stood up to close them.

Footsteps echoed down the hall, with a snarky voice telling her officers to leave him alone. A frown appeared on her face. Could it be?

The doors opened, but she didn't bother looking to see who it was. "Miles Matheson."

"Madam President," he replied in his rough voice that she had once found so appealing. "May I just say…" he hesitated, and she pictured him rolling his eyes, "that was a crapload of stairs."

She fought a smile, still gazing out the window. "Charming as ever." She fingered a small silver charm that, to her, was worth more than all the money in the world. "I suppose you're here to tell me that you didn't kill that policeman?" Even if he denied it, she wouldn't even consider believing the Butcher of Baltimore or whatever it was that they were calling him now.

"No." Just as she suspected. "But the man who did, he's your problem."

She whirled around to face him. "It's a hell of a problem." She waved a piece of parchment to get his attention. "A little MASH note? From Sebastian."

Miles remained impassive.

"'Dear citizens, the fight is not with you. It is with your leader, who insists upon war. If the Georgia Federation does not offer unconditional surrender by midnight tonight.'" She glared at him, breaking script. "He's going to detonate a nuke."

Miles half-shook his head. "You must've heard he's got power."

She gave a noncommittal grunt and dropped the paper onto an ashtray. "But a nuclear bomb? And he's…deranged enough to use it."

"Kelly–"He tried to move forward, but the guards held him back. She gave her guards a curt nod, and they release him. "He wants your real-estate. You know that." He looked back at the guards. "Let me out of here. I can help."

She laughed without humor. "I should trust you?" She approached him, her eyes hardening. She jabbed a letter knife into his stomach. "Miles…" She shook her head. "I should've slit you wide open. You killed…how many of my troops?"

He doesn't respond. She didn't expect him to.

"That was a long time ago," he finally said.

She rolled her eyes. "Mhmm. And what about what you did to me, personally?"

"Kelly." He paused. "The guy who brought this bomb here? I trained him. I can stop him. And…hell if I'm wrong, but we're all in the same dust cloud anyway."

Her eyes darted around the room while he spoke. "And how do I know that you will actually stop him?"

Miles hesitated. "You're just going to have to trust me."

He may as well have asked her to dance naked on the roof of a car.

"Kelly. Please. I know I've given you countless reasons to want to cut off my head but please. Just consider once for trusting me."

So she considered for a long time. "Guards? Let General Matheson go. He's going to be helping out."

Like the trained monkeys that they were, the guards nodded in sync before unlocking his handcuffs and leaving her office.

"Kelly," Miles stated. "Thank you."

She looked away from him, not quite knowing what to say. Soon the door closed behind him.

Kelly caught her breath and sat down at her desk. "Calm down, Kelly," she instructed herself. "Don't freak out."

She opened one desk drawer and took out her prized picture. It was frayed from years of unfolding, weathered, and spotty from time. But she wouldn't have traded it in for anything. She smoothed it out with shaking hands.

She was nineteen years old. Her curly red hair was much longer, her green eyes were lined in mascara, and she was laughing. Her arm was around her younger sister, whose blonde hair was cut short. Her sister's green eyes, so much like her own, sparkled in the sunlight.

"Oh, Maggie," Kelly said sadly, stroking her sister's face. "I'm so sorry. I wish I hadn't left you. If you're still out there, Maggie, I love you."

**So… *grins* Likey? No likey? Press that button down there and review. In return, I may float a few more chapters into this story. Please review!**


	2. Seattle's Nightlife

Chapter Two

**The Night of the Blackout**

Maggie blinked at the screen. One second ago, she had been Skyping with her boys and her nanny, Elizabeth, and then…the screen had contorted and blacked out, the same way it had when she'd accidently dropped her iPod into the sink. The lights in her hotel room had simply fizzled out. "Elliott?" she called hesitantly, knowing she wouldn't get an answer.

_Okay, _she thought. _So the power went out. No big deal._

But when she had peered out the window, the lights were all slowly but steadily turning off, including at the Space Needle.

What was going on? She picked up her iPhone to call her children, but it wouldn't turn on. She pressed the power button so hard it left an indent on her finger. "I could've sworn I charged it," Maggie muttered under her breath. It had been at maybe forty percent when she was talking with her fellow medical associates, and that had been an hour ago.

Maggie stuffed her iPhone into her purse, slung her purse onto her shoulder, and walked out into the hallway, where several people were discussing the power outage. She had to squint to see them and tuned in their conversation.

"…you think is going on, Amy?"

"I don't know, babe."

"How is it that my iPhone shut down, and the lights are off?" A man with coiffed black hair and a huge body was fuming. "I was expecting a call from my boss. What am I supposed to tell him, Amy?"

"I don't know, for crying out loud, Peter!" The woman, whose name was apparently Amy, spoke up. She was wearing a red cocktail dress and high heels. "It's one call; I think you can miss it!"

"This could make or break my career!"

"Peter, baby, you own a McDonalds franchise; your career couldn't be broken even if it was made of glass."

Maggie had to roll her eyes. Americans.

"Excuse me?" A woman with dark red hair stuck her head into the hallway. "Do any of you have a flashlight or something?"

"Sorry, ma'am, I don't," Peter stated solemnly. "Any of you?"

Everyone in the hallway, Maggie included, shook their heads. "Sorry."

"It's alright…" the woman hesitated. "I'm Janine. Do any of you know what's going on?"

"Not a clue." Amy sighed. "I'm Amy, this is my husband Peter."

"Maggie Foster," Maggie said, and had to roll her eyes at the stares that she got because of her accent.

"I'm Mike, this is my wife, Charlotte," a man introduced.

Janine shook her head and look furtively up and down the dim hallway. "I don't think this is a normal power outage. For one, our phones would be working."

"So would the AC." Mike fanned himself.

"Look," Maggie said, staring at them. "I'm sure that by tomorrow everything will be turned back on and you can get back to your calls and Angry Birds games."

Janine shook her head. "This isn't a normal power outage."

Maggie laughed. "How so?"

In answer, Janine grabbed her hand and took her to the window at the end of the hallway that looked over Seattle. Maggie had often stood there for moments at a time, gazing at the skyline. But as she peered into the streets below, she could tell that Janine was right.

There were no cars speeding on the highway, no sirens. There were no lights on, and, if Maggie squinted, she could see people down below wandering aimlessly.

Maggie coughed. "So…what now?"

A sudden banging interrupted Maggie, Janine and the others. "Help me, get me out of here!"

"Hello?" Maggie asked cautiously. "Hello?"

"Help!" The voice called. "I'm trapped in the elevator! Help me!"

"Okay, okay…" Maggie's mind was racing. How had her evening gone so wrong so quickly? What in the name of all that was holy was going on?

Charlotte, however, took a deep breath. "Alright. I worked in maintenance for three years, I know what to do. Mikey, get me rubber gloves, a bobby pin and pliers."

Mike looked like she had asked him to moon the President.

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Come on, now!"

Mike slowly left the hallway, returned to his room and came back holding all of the requirements. Charlotte took them and began to try to unscrew the box next to it.

Janine leaned close to Maggie. "What the hell?"

Maggie shook her head.

Charlotte slipped on the rubber gloves, somehow having unscrewed the box, and waved the pliers in the air like a magic wand. "Okay. I'm going to snip this cord, and when I do, the doors are going to open. Mike, get the person out of the elevator because the doors will only stay open for a little bit."

"What happens after?" Amy asked.

"Well, I've only done this a few times, but sometimes the floor gives way," Charlotte said, unsmiling.

Peter swore under his breath. "Where'd you learn to fix elevators, North Korea?"

"It's happened before!" Charlotte snapped. "Just be ready!"

Maggie, Janine, Peter, and Mike inched towards the elevator. "Help me!" the voice called.

"We're getting you out of here, don't worry!" Janine said calmly, but she looked like she was ready to vomit.

"Okay…" Charlotte breathed. "Now!"

She snipped the cord, the elevator doors opened, revealing a scared nineteen-year-old girl that Peter and Mike quickly yanked out of the elevator.

The elevator was only visible for about five more seconds before it completely dropped from their floor, sending a resounding crash that could probably be heard for miles.

"Holy…holy…" the girl muttered. "You saved my life! Thank you!"

"Are you okay, honey?" Amy asked.

"My name is Diana."

"Are you alright, Diana?"

"I'm fine," Diana stated. "Who are you guys?"

"I'm Amy, this is Peter, Maggie, Janine, Charlotte, and Mike," Amy said. "Are you alone? Where are your parents?"

"Chicago, probably," Diana stated. "I'm only here for a few days. I leave for college in a little while; I'm going to the University of Washington."

"Good school," Peter said.

Diana took a deep breath. "There is something horribly wrong here. Nothing is frigging working! I'm terrified and I don't know what to do…"

"It's okay, Diana, it's gonna be fine," Charlotte said soothingly.

"Are there any stairs around here?" Amy suddenly asked.

"Uh, yeah?" Charlotte pointed to door reading STAIRS in bright red letters.

"Let's go into the lobby. We can figure out what to do next down there," Amy explained. "I have a feeling we need to get out of here fast."

"Diana, you have any family members around here?"

"Nope. My roommate already left, but I don't care about her. She couldn't tell which side is up even if it's labeled on a box," Diana scoffed.

"You want to come with us?" Peter asked.

"Whoa." Maggie held up her hand. "I'm sorry, but when was there an us mentioned?"

"Yeah," Janine chimed in. "What if we want to go on our own?"

"Because we'll all do better as a group," Mike stated. "We need to get out of here, at the least. Look down there." He pointed outdoors, where a swarm of teens were already holding weapons. "It's not safe."

"So if we all go together, we'll automatically be safe?" Maggie put her hands on her hips. "It's the bloody apocalypse out there, if you haven't noticed."

"Weren't you the one who said that this was not a big deal?" Peter retorted. "Trust me: it is."

"That was before I saw fires outdoors and Diana almost fell down an elevator shaft," Maggie countered. "I'm with you now. It's dangerous. I agree. But we'll cover less ground in a group and more on our own."

"All in favor of not dying and going in a group?" Amy asked, raising her hand along with Peter, Mike, and Charlotte.

"Maggie," Janine said, "I think Amy's right. We need to stick together."

"No." Maggie shook her head firmly. "I need to go on my own."

"You'll get killed."

"I need to get back to my kids."

"We can help you!"

"Janine, I live across the bloody Atlantic Ocean!" Maggie snapped. "I have to get to my kids. They need me."

"Maggie," Diana spoke up. "Look. I'm willing to stay in a group. But we can help you find your kids and get back across the ocean. I mean, there's got to be a working airplane somewhere, right?"

Maggie stared at her feet. She normally wouldn't have been caught dead working with complete strangers. Her stubbornness was one of the reasons her husband, David, had divorced her. But Diana and Janine raised fair points.

"A group it is, then," Maggie stated. "But let me get one thing perfectly clear. If anyone tries to aggravate me, I will kill them with my bare hands. Got it?"

Peter, Mike, Charlotte, Janine, Amy and Diana nodded. "Got it."

"So what's the plan?" Janine asked.

"Right now? To not die." Amy stared at her feet.

"I like that plan, but I feel something could be added to it along the way," Janine said sarcastically.

"Everyone." Peter looked at them in the eyes. "Here's our plan. Take the towel racks of the walls as a weapon. Grab anything useful that you can carry on your back. Ladies, change out of your heels and put on sneakers. We'll be walking long distances."

Maggie and the others nodded. "Anything else?" Diana asked.

"Nope. I think we'll be improvising along the way. Just trust me."

Diana rolled her eyes. "Just drop me off in Montana. I've got an aunt that I can stay with."

"Fine," Peter stated. "So for now, our first goal is to get to Montana. Any other places?"

"England?" Maggie asked.

"We'll get you back home, Maggie, I promise." Janine put her hand on Maggie's shoulder, and Maggie, in spite of herself, smiled in thanks.

"Let's get going," Mike stated, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Maggie, for the first time that evening, left the hallway with a bit of optimism. If there was the slimmest chance that she could go home to her boys, she was taking it.

"Maggie!" Amy called five minutes later. "Are you packed?"

Maggie sighed. "Hold on, I'm coming!" She threw on jeans, sneakers and a sweatshirt, not caring that it messed up her hair. In her backpack, she placed every medical supply she had, from antibiotics to a thermometer; a bottle of water; a lighter and a pack of cigarettes, and the small silver charm that had been given to Maggie on her twenty-first birthday.

As she tried to wrench off the towel racks in the bathroom, her thoughts couldn't help but turn to her family. Callum and Elliott, her boys. David. And… Maggie's stomach turned as her mind veered onto dangerous grounds…Kelly.

Her older, estranged, sister, Kelly Foster. Kelly, who had left England to move to North Carolina and became a lawyer ten years ago, who Maggie had not spoken to for ten years except on Christmas, was still out there. Maggie sighed. "Kelly," she shook her head, "I miss you. You'd know what to do."

**So…any thoughts on this? I'd love to hear 'em! Please review!**

**-Boa**


	3. The Day After

**A/N: Thanks to my lone reviewer sarah for encouraging me to write this chapter. I hope the rest of you guys love it.**

**Disclaimer: If I haven't mentioned it before, I do not own Revolution, or else I wouldn't have killed off Nora, Maggie and Danny. I only own my OC's.**

**Read on!**

Chapter Three

**The Day After The Blackout**

Kelly Foster woke up in her small apartment, and, out of reflex, tried to turn off her alarm. As she stumbled back to the edge of consciousness, she realized that her alarm wasn't on. _Did I set it last night, _she thought groggily. Then she remembered how the lights had gone out sometime that night, and she had just gone to bed early.

Standing up, she cracked her back and went to the bathroom. She ran her hands through her curly red hair, which she had grown out since she was nineteen. "I need a haircut," she mumbled to herself. Maybe she'd schedule it after work. She turned the faucet for the sink and waited for the cold water to stream through her fingers, effectively waking her up every morning. But nothing happened.

She frowned and tried it again. The hot water didn't work either. She tried the shower, and even the toilet. Nothing worked. Kelly rubbed her eyes and walked back to her bedroom, where she saw that her alarm clock was not working. Neither was her stereo. She turned the volume all the way up, but it didn't work. "What the hell?"

Someone knocked on the door, and Kelly raced to the door, not even worrying that she was wearing an old T-shirt and underwear. "Who is it?"

"It's me. Lemme in, Kelly."

She did, and gave her friend a huge hug. "Lucas! What're you doing here? I thought you were on vacation!"

"I got back in last night," he said, grinning shyly. Lucas had short blond hair, bluer than blue eyes, and muscled arms. He was her best friend, and he had gone to the Rocky Mountains for six weeks to try and accomplish a world record.

"Did you beat it?"

"No," he sighed. "Unfortunately, I may not get another chance to try."

"How come?"

"Kell Bell, come on." He gestured to her house. "No one's electricity has worked since last night. Not even their cars or iPhones."

"So maybe it's just a power outage. Who cares?" Kelly asked, suddenly a bit confused.

"Don't you think it's strange?" Lucas asked. "Come on. Not even my watch is working. It's stuck at seven twelve p.m."

Kelly shrugged. "I didn't notice anything. I went to bed at ten and nothing was wrong."

"You didn't notice the power outage?" Lucas asked curiously.

Kelly shook her head. "No…Liz and Dean came over, and we drank. I guess I was a bit tipsy and I didn't notice." In the back of her mind, she remembered lighting candles and ushering Liz and Dean out the door, but it hurt too much to remember. "In any case. Do you want to come in?"

"Yeah, sure." Lucas nodded, and he and Kelly walked to the kitchen.

"Coffee?"

"Yeah, black, no sugar."

Kelly busied herself into making coffee while thoughts raced in her head at the speed of a thousand miles per hour. _If what Lucas is saying is true, what's going on? Is the apocalypse coming? Is Maggie alright?_ She hadn't thought about her little sister in ages. She knew that she lived in England and that she had gotten a divorce recently, but they hadn't talked (albeit briefly) since last Christmas.

"…not on?"

Kelly snapped out of her Maggie-induced trance. "What?"

"I don't think your coffee-maker is on, Kell," Lucas said, a smile in his eyes.

"Oh." Kelly blushed and ran her fingers through her unruly red mane. "Hmm…" She pushed the button, and waited for the sweet, spicy aroma. Nothing happened. "Is it broken?"

Lucas came over and fiddled with the machine. "I don't think so. It looks in order."

"Huh." Kelly opened the curtains to have more light, and the sunshine blinded her. Once her headache had calmed down, she noticed Lucas staring with wide eyes at something in her backyard. She turned her head around slowly. Once her eyes rested upon the problem, she would've screamed had Lucas not slapped his hand over her mouth.

A plane had crashed into the trees in her garden, and charred bodies were resting in her flower beds. A little girl had appeared to have been wandering around, but her head was matted with so much blood there was no chance that she was still alive.

Kelly's heart leapt into her throat. There was no denying to be done. Something was horribly wrong with the world. No electricity, no running water…she had a feeling that the pile of grievances was just getting started.

(*) (*)

**The Day After the Blackout**

Maggie felt humiliated as she and her newfound group trudged down the streets of Seattle. They had, after all, stayed the night in the hotel after Diana, Peter, and Charlotte had racked up enough complaints to make Maggie want to pull out her hair.

Just after dawn, they had set out wearing comfortable clothing that they had all probably worn on the airplanes to Seattle. Maggie had already glimpsed fires, robberies, and crashed cars, and she knew without Peter having to tell her so that that was only the beginning.

She couldn't help but wonder what was going on in the United Kingdom right now. Was there chaos, or was the Queen taking care of it? Was her nanny taking care of her sons or had she abandoned them? More importantly, were her sons going to live out this apocalypse? Was she?

Maggie trembled, but it wasn't because she was cold. Far from it. She was sweating hard underneath her T-shirt. She was so started by Janine's hand on her arm that she almost jumped out of her skin. With a glare, she looked at Janine, silently encouraging her to let go. Janine was unperturbed.

"Maggie, stay calm, okay. I know what you're going through," Janine said quietly. "I know this isn't pleasant, but we need to get out of the city. It's a much better alternative than staying on the streets. Look around. It's insane."

Maggie's eyes, as if controlled by another being, moved to the busted out Best Buy they were currently passing, which was occupied by at least six figures pillaging the business. She could already hear the commotion and gunshots, wondering how any families were going to be torn apart by this. "This is insane," she agreed.

"Pardon my French, but can I give you a piece of advice without you glaring at me like I'm Satan?" Janine asked, taking her hand off Maggie's arm.

Maggie winced inwardly, feeling a shred of guilt tearing apart her insides. "Sure."

"Don't watch them," Janine returned. "Don't look at them. Keep your head held up high, and don't make eye contact with anyone."

"How do you know all this?" Maggie whispered, tripping over a patch of gravel and righting herself before anyone looked their way.

Janine's expression hardened as she looked away from Maggie. "I'm going to walk up with Peter and Mike."

"No, hold up!" Maggie protested. "I'm just asking. Really. No judgments."

Janine hesitated before falling into step with Maggie once more. "Well, if we're going to be traveling together, we might as well get to know each other. You tell me something about you, and I'll spill."

Maggie hesitated. "Erm…sure. I'm from England—"

"Never woulda guessed," Janine cracked.

"I have two sons, their names are Callum and Elliott, and they're my life." Out of reflex, Maggie reached into her purse for her iPhone before remembering that no electronics worked. She continued, hoping Janine wouldn't notice. "Erm…right. My ex-husband's name is David, we divorced four years ago."

"What about your family?"

"My mum died of cancer nine years ago, and my father lives in Wales," Maggie said slowly. "My mother raised us to be good children, and my father never really cared. He'd send us to boarding schools all the time, and would've kept us away year-round if he could've."

"What do you mean by us?" Janine asked gently as the group rounded a corner. Maggie cursed herself inwardly. _Damn it, damn it, damn it._

"I, uh, have a sister. She lives in Atlanta now, I think. We're estranged, haven't spoken in ages."

"Why?" Janine pried.

"So how do you know what to do?" Maggie said, intentionally changing the subject. She liked Janine alright, she did. But she just wasn't ready to talk about Kelly yet to anyone. She hadn't even told her children that they had an aunt, nor had she told Kelly that she had nephews. With an ache in her chest, she realized that she wouldn't have a chance.

Janine must have noticed the pain on her face, because she switched to her life story. _Thank you. _"I was born in New York. My father died when I was fifteen, and my mother's new boyfriends kept on abusing her. When I was seventeen, I chased one of them from the house with a shotgun. I thought my mom would be proud of me, but she told me to get out of there and never come back. And I did."

Maggie furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm sorry."

Janine gave a nonchalant shrug. "S'okay. But anyway. I joined a gang, the Stings, for a few years. From them, I learned everything: street smarts, how to operate guns, how to break and enter…it took me awhile to understand that they were a bad influence on me, so I broke out and never looked back.

"So even though those guys—" Janine gestured at the thugs in the street, "—think that they're tough, they're nothing compared to the Stings. Underneath that cruel exterior, they're probably nice guys."

"Well then, it's good to know I'm in the presence of a professional," said Maggie before she could stop herself. _Way to go, you git. Real smooth. _Much to her surprise, Janine laughed and shook her head.

"It's not an insult, Maggie. I'm sort of proud to say that while my expertise didn't get me a good job in New York City, I'm glad that it'll get me by in this world."

The two women trudged ahead, where they could hear Diana talking nonstop to Peter, Mike, Charlotte and Amy. Maggie stifled a laugh when she saw that Peter looked about to pass out, and Amy looked ready for the nuthouse.

"She could talk the hind legs off a donkey," Maggie murmured to Janine, who, to her surprise, understood and cracked up.

Diana looked up and stopped talking. "Hey! Were y'all talking about me?"

Maggie and Janine simultaneously shook their heads. "Nope."

Suddenly, as the team rounded a corner into a dark alley, four burly Asian men with buzz cuts and tattoos approached them. "Got cash?" One asked. He had a tattoo of a skull on his cheek. Maggie rolled her eyes.

Peter, Amy, Mike, Charlotte, Diana, Janine and Maggie checked their pockets. "No, sir, sorry," Mike said politely and quite calmly, but Maggie saw his hands shaking.

"Well, isn't that something. I don't suppose that you folks have heard that if you come this way, you're required to bring cash. Otherwise we'll have to take something more vital from you." Tattoo fingered a pocketknife.

Mike looked seconds away from pissing himself.

"I don't suppose you take credit?" Diana asked sarcastically.

One of Tattoo's friends leered. "Hey, Skid, check out the chicks! There's enough for all of us!"

In a flash, Skid grabbed Diana and Amy, while Tattoo took a hold of Charlotte and Maggie. Janine had managed to elude them.

"Let them go," Peter squeaked. Maggie would've rolled her eyes if she wasn't so terrified. _Goodbye, Callum. Goodbye, Elliott. Goodbye, David. Goodbye, Kelly…_

Janine laughed and shook her head. "Take 'em if you want 'em."

Maggie looked at Janine as if she had lost all of her brain cells. Tattoo looked as surprised as Maggie felt. "Excuse me, missy?"

"Take 'em," Janine repeated. "I mean, if you don't value your lives."

Charlotte and Amy's jaws dropped. Diana was still shaking in the grip of her captor. Maggie wondered, with furrowed brows, what Janine was doing.

Tattoo growled. "No."

"Wow," Janine laughed, "the negotiating skills of gangbangers have definitely taken a nosedive since I've been part of 'em."

"Shut up, you whore," Skid said.

Janine didn't flinch. "Let. Them. Go. Please."

"Wow. Which clique did you belong to?" Tattoo asked mockingly. "The Fairy Friends?"

Janine shook her head, shaking off the insult. "Let them go or else you're really going to regret it."

Skid released Amy, and Tattoo released his grip on Charlotte and Maggie. "There. Three out of four good enough for you?"

"Give us back Diana." Janine sounded so calm that Maggie gave her a double-take.

The man laughed. "Do you really think you could take her from us? I'd like to see you try." Skid took a threatening step toward her, and Maggie heard a soft click that signaled his switchblade opening. Janine remained emotionless. Diana was shaking so hard Maggie could almost see her vibrating. Peter and Mike's jaws had seemed permanently frozen in an astonished position.

"You wanna try me on for size, sweetheart? You won't live to see another second," he said in a low voice.

Suddenly, Janine caught Skid's wrist, and she stole the blade from him before he could blink. Maggie's jaw dropped. For a moment, Tattoo looked frightened, but his eyes quickly masked his inner turmoil.

"Do you wanna try me on for size, punk?" she challenged. "Then again, maybe one of you could volunteer to take her place. It wouldn't surprise me. When I ran with the Stings, they always volunteered to do the dirty work." Janine tossed the blade and caught it like an expert. "And since I'm changing the subject…have any of you ever stabbed someone, just for your inner pleasure? Let me tell you that there's not a feeling in the world like it."

With another flick of her wrist she flung the blade into a brick wall, inches from Skid's head. "So…any of y'all want a piece of me? Be honest."

Tattoo and Skid swore. "You stay away from me, you crazy bitch!" one of the thugs swore, and Skid quickly released Diana, who ran to Peter and Amy.

Maggie was astonished to see the others inching toward the end of the alley.

"You just do your thing, chick, and stay away from us!" Tattoo spat contemptuously, and he quickly followed the other three out of the alley.

Janine rolled her eyes. "Punkasses!" She yelled after them. "I'm terrified, really, I'm shaking in my boots." She yanked the knife out of the wall and stuck it in her belt loops.

The men's jaws finally closed. Charlotte and Amy looked at her like she was a goddess.

"I want to walk with _her!" _Diana stated firmly, and her tone made Maggie snap out of her trance. Diana beamed. "Janine. That was amazing," she almost shouted, and Maggie saw how young she was. _She shouldn't have to go through this. None of us should._

"Where the _hell_ did that_ come_ from?" Charlotte asked in shock.

"Janine, that was incredible," Amy insisted. "You saved our lives."

"I used to run with a gang," Janine shrugged. "Guess they taught me a thing or two."

"A thing or two?" Peter repeated, shell-shocked. "A _thing or two?_ Janine, you deserve an Oscar for that performance. I'm glad we're not your enemy."

Janine suddenly looked exhausted. "Yeah, well. Wow. I was never like that when I was with the Stings. But they were ruthless idiots. I learned from the best. Can we get out of here now?"

"But—" Diana looked like she was going to pee. "Please. Tell us more?"

As Janine led the way out of the alley, with Peter and Mike following close behind, Maggie heard her mumble "Baby girl, you don't want to know."

***Talk the hind legs off a donkey: A person who is excessively or extremely talkative**

**Reviews are like butter: a little goes a long way, and they make everything taste better. **** Review! More on Kelly Foster next chappie.**

**-Boa**


	4. Old Wounds and New Problems

Eternal Affections

**Thanks to Lizziebeth for reviewing my last chapter! I hope you guys like this one: it focuses on Kelly from the past and Kelly in the present. The chapter afterwards shall be about Maggie. Hope you love it!**

**And on another note, if I'm gonna keep writing this, I'm requesting a beta. I'm not quite sure how it works, but I'd be willing to try it out. My requirements are that you know Revolution and have time for regular communication.**

**Enjoy the chappie,**

**-Boa**

Chapter Four

**The Present**

President Kelly Foster was wondering, for the thousandth time, why she had surrounded herself with incompetent fools. She gazed anxiously at her paper, her pen scratching away in her absolute best handwriting. Her door banged open, startling her to the point that she almost threw her letter knife across the room.

"Madam President?" a young male assistant asked, sounding nervous as all-get-out. _This should be good, _Kelly thought.

"Yes?" She raised one eyebrow. "I'm in the middle of something."

"President Foster, ma'am," he said in a strong southern accent, "Phillips told me that Miles Matheson is tearing apart your executive assistant to find a Nora Clayton."

Kelly resisted the urge to throw her hands in the air. In all the time she'd known Matheson, he'd never learned to control that temper of his, even when his endless supply of that goddamn whiskey mellowed him out. "Take me to him."

"Y-yes, ma'am." He made a move as if to bow, before straightening out and leading Kelly to the office where she'd last seen the Butcher of Baltimore.

She snuck around the guards, peeking at the commotion. Miles Matheson was walking around the office, throwing his hands in the air and his mood was going nowhere but south. Her assistant was cowering and looked like he'd rather be at the hospital helping treat burn victims. "I don't care what it takes, you find Nora Clayton!" Miles yelled, and Kelly barely refrained from rolling her eyes. "She's gotta be somewhere. You have spies, right? Use them!"

Her assistant looked cowed. "Well, there aren't very many left, sir." Then, almost as an afterthought, "Monroe's wiped them out."

Miles rolled his eyes, and walked away from the cowering man. "God, you're useless." _My thoughts exactly._ "Guess I'll just have to go myself, huh?"

"You're not going anywhere," Kelly said firmly. "I've lost enough men as it is." Miles stared at her. She was about to open her mouth again when she noticed her assistant and the soldiers behind her. "May we have some privacy?" she asked, crossing her arms across her white top.

Dumbly, the soldiers left, followed by her assistant, who looked relieved.

Kelly looked at Matheson, who wasted no time in asking "How bad is it?"

"Injured soldiers are streaming in from the North. I've lost over half my army in the last week and with that drone strike it wasn't even a fair fight, and any day now Monroe's going to come marching into this city like Sherman." Kelly took a deep breath. _Calm down, Kelly._ "He's going to bomb my streets and lay claim to the rubble." _Like the psycho megalomaniac he is,_ she added inwardly.

Miles, to his everlasting credit, said nothing. He was probably thinking of Nora Clayton and the chances of organizing a mutiny to find her. Kelly braced herself for sharing the dangerous tidbit that had been nagging in the back of her mind since the drone strike.

"I have an obligation to save as many of my people as I can." Miles looked at her, half-listening. "So, Miles. I don't know if you have any brilliant ideas but if you do now's the time to hear them because if you don't…I'm going to surrender." There. She had said it. Now all she had to do was wait for the explosion.

Like she'd expected, Miles looked as if he'd been electrocuted. "What? No Kelly, you can't. We're close to beating Monroe—"

"On what planet, Miles?" she snapped. "He's got power that could blow up the world. It's already eliminated half of my men. I don't know if this is some kind of sick game of World of Warcraft to you, General, but I don't want to be the one responsible for telling those soldier's families and their parents and children that I was the one who sent them to hell."

"Kelly—"Miles shook his head. "Believe me. I used to not give a rat's ass about this, but it's different. _I'm _different." He gestured to himself. "My girlfriend is missing. My niece almost got buried in an avalanche of rubble today. And my sister-in-law is, right now, on her way to a place that can turn the power back on so we can strike Monroe with everything we've got. Please don't give up yet."

Kelly was surprised. She couldn't remember the last time Miles had said 'please'. She'd thought it was on his list of words that he hadn't learned as a child. Bass Monroe had been different. He'd said please and sometimes even thank you. "Fine. But you better come up with _something._"

"I'll come up with anything if you can find my girlfriend," he said earnestly. And she believed him. For once.

"Miles." Kelly put her hand on his arm. "Have…did you ever—"She paused. "Never mind."

"What?"

"Did you ever find the brother you were looking for?" Kelly looked at her feet, a bit unsure of the answer.

Miles sighed and rubbed his forehead. "No. He's dead. Monroe killed him."

This was news. Kelly looked up and felt her hard exterior soften. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," he mumbled. "Look—if you find Nora, I want to know about it immediately. And I call dibs on killing whatever prick took her."

Kelly's eyes widened. "All yours" was all she could say. "But you'd better let your friend Hudson have some fun too."

Miles half-smiled and she was instantly transported to the days when that smile had driven her wild. And after all of that, she still had the hots for him. Unbelievable. "Deal." He stuck out his hand, gave hers a quick shake and left the office. Faintly, she heard him swear at her assistant, and she smiled. "I need to give him a pay raise," she murmured.

She sat down, remembering the days before Georgia, before the Monroe Republic, before everything had gone down the path to hell. _The road to hell is paved with good intentions, _she mused. _I just haven't seen any yet._

Agitated, she remembered a week after the Blackout, huddling in her home with Lucas at her side. And that had been when the shit had really hit the fan.

(*) (*)

**The Past**

**One week after the Blackout**

"We need to start saving our food supplies, our non-perishable items," Lucas said. "We can't stay here anymore, Kelly."

Kelly stared at him with her hands on her hips, refraining from shouting. "Why not? We have plenty of food to spare, I'm growing plants in the garden, plus we shoot deer for dinner and cook 'em: how is this problem?"

"How about the fact that people with fucking shotguns are breaking into houses and stealing?" Lucas countered. "Tell me with a straight face you didn't notice your neighbors becoming cannibals."

Kelly said nothing. "Lucas, I can't leave. Really. Too many memories are here—"

"Memories?" Lucas laughed without humor. "Who gives a damn about memories, Kell? We're regressing to the cavemen times where it's kill or be killed. Memories are worthless."

"Lucas, what's wrong with you?" Kelly asked. "You always said that memories are important."

"That was before," Lucas said. "Before everything went to hell."

"Nothing is obligating you to stay here, Lucas Mackenzie!" Kelly shouted. "If you wanna leave, get the hell out of my house!"

"I'm staying for you!"

"Well maybe I don't want you to stay!" Kelly yelled, and instantly regretted her words. Luca's face was a recipe of hurt, discomfort, followed by rage.

"Fuck you."

"Lucas, no, stop," Kelly tried. "I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry, I didn't mean it, I didn't—"

She never got the chance to finish the sentence before Lucas grabbed the shotgun off the wall and smacked it over her head. Colors blurred, sounds stilled. Kelly didn't know if she was screaming or doing nothing. A supernova exploded in the back of her skull as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell, unconscious, onto the kitchen floor.

"Ohhh…." Kelly winced. "My head." She sat up, rubbing it, and was surprised to feel a bandage there. Lucas must have done it, she surmised. She tried to get to her feet, only to find an overwhelming amount of nausea. Kelly then decided it was best to crawl.

On her hands and knees, she crawled to the kitchen counter and forced herself into a standing position. She wrenched open the medicine cabinet, almost salivating at the thought of an Advil. But the cabinet was empty.

Her hands jumped to her mouth as the nausea made a sudden comeback. "No," she whispered. "No!" She tore open the cabinets that had held rice and bread and yeast and even cereal boxes, but nothing was left. "No!" She screamed. "Lucas!"

She sobbed. "What's wrong with me?" she mumbled. "Oh, goddamn it all." A note was duct-taped to the no longer working microwave.

_**You wanted me gone. I'm gone. I took everything I needed to survive. Try not to die.**_

_**Lucas**_

"That bitch!" she swore, and ripped his note to shreds. "Damn him! Damn him to pieces, that sneaking idiot."

She could practically hear her little sister, in her proper British accent, lecturing her about swearing. She sat down hard in a kitchen chair, relieving the past between her and her sister.

"_It's not proper of a lady to swear," Maggie said, crossing her arms. They were standing in their modestly furnished kitchen, talking quietly._

"_Fuck it, Maggie. Fuck them both!"_

"_Kelly, be quiet, they might hear you!"_

"_Who cares? They want me gone anyway; this will be the final nail in my coffin!"_

"_They don't want you gone," Maggie said, shaking her head. "No one does. They're just a little mad."_

"_A little mad?" Kelly scoffed. "If that's them a little mad, I can't wait to see what they're like tonight."_

"_Kelly, what are you doing tonight?"_

"_I've had it with them. I've had it!"_

"_Girls?" their father entered the kitchen. "Margaret, leave. I need to speak with your sister. Now."_

It had been the last time she'd seen Maggie for ten years, Kelly now knew. Furiously wiping her eyes, she walked into her bedroom, packed a bag, and went back to the kitchen to salvage for any food that Lucas might have left her. She opened the refrigerator, out of reflex, and found another note.

**Food's in the back.**

**-Lucas**

She didn't understand what he meant. Back of what? Then she understood and whirled around to the pantry, throwing open the doors, her hopes high. They quickly plummeted. She cussed as she saw exactly what Lucas had left for her: two boxes of beef jerky, one box of Saltine crackers, three Jolly Ranchers, and one bottle of water. "Thanks a bunch, Lucas," she said sarcastically. "Thanks for my plentiful gathering. This ought to keep me going for a while."

In any case, she stuffed it in her pack, took a small swig from the bottle of water before sticking it into her pack too. Kelly looked at the wall and saw that Lucas had taken the goddamn shotgun with him.

"Fine," she said, "fine, Lucas, be that way." She knew her sanity was ebbing, but she didn't care. She ran up to her bedroom to see it one more time before she saw it. The picture.

The picture of Maggie and Kelly. The last picture that Kelly had of her baby sister, photographic proof that she wasn't an only child. Kelly didn't hesitate before smashing the glass in the picture frame, folding up the picture and carefully sticking it into the pocket of her jeans.

At the door of her house, she laced up her old hiking boots, took a last look at the place she'd lived in for more than a decade.

The door slammed shut behind her. As she walked down her driveway, thoughts were racing in her mind at a thousand miles per hour. Twice, she stopped and looked back. But she always turned around and kept walking.

"There's no destination on a walkabout," she sang, "you just go, go, go." After all, the road to hell was paved with good intentions. Maybe she'd discover some of them on her journey. But where to?

New strategy. She found a crumpled up map of the US of A in her backpack, closed her eyes, and pointed. "Alright," she muttered, seeing where her finger had landed. "I'm heading to Parris Island."

**Alright, people, so here's Kelly Foster's part! I hope y'all liked it enough to leave a review. Please? In the immortal words of one of my friends: Happy authors post faster.**

**The thing about a beta still stands. If you'd like to help me out, PM me or state it in a review.**

**Thanks for reading,**

**-Boa **


	5. A Montana Campfire

**Hey, y'all! Thanks for checking up onto another chappie of Eternal Affections. I'm not usually one to beg for reviews, but I haven't really gotten any recently. Can someone please tell me if what I'm doing is good or not? I'm looking at you, active lurkers! I'm not going to, however, 'hold my story hostage' because I'm not getting reviews. I just want to know how I'm doing so far.**

**Thanks a bunch, guys, and enjoy!**

Chapter Five

**The Past**

**Two Weeks after the Blackout**

Maggie could not believe that they had made it through the first night with no problems. They could've died a thousand ways on their way out of Seattle, but they had all (unbelievably) survived. And through her walkabout with her new friends, she came to know the others: Peter, who had come from small beginnings and now owned six different restaurant franchises; Amy, who was an out-of-work hairdresser; Charlotte, who had recently earned a degree as a biomedical engineer after years of college and working summers fixing elevators in small hotels; Mike, who, with an eighth-grade education, had recently achieved a pilot's license and had already agreed to fly her home once they'd found a working plane, and Diana, who had come to the University of Washington to become a veterinarian, who had grown up with five sisters and two brothers who had all become major alumni that she felt she always had to compete with, and who was barely nineteen years old and separated from her family, much like Maggie herself.

They had been trudging along for four days straight, with several stops along the way for rest and water and the tiny bit of food that they had scavenged from the hotel and the city. They had stopped in small towns like Burkeville and Lewistown and even Spokane, where the same sight awaited them: chaos and problems and big bad guys with shotguns. With Janine's advice, they had casually avoided them with no violence like what had happened with Skid and Tattoo.

Janine, no matter how much Diana and Maggie begged to know more of her history, refused to say a word. Maybe for private reasons, but whenever the subject of her past or her running with the Stings, she clammed up or would hastily change the subject.

Maggie thought constantly about her two boys. What was going on with them? Were they being well-fed? Had David or her father come to find Callum and Elliott? Were they even—

No. Maggie would not allow herself to go into morbid details. She would switch to thoughts of her long since estranged sister. Kelly was living in Atlanta, Georgia, and Maggie thought that, maybe, just maybe, if she and her gang made it to Atlanta, she could find her older sister. How, though, she wasn't sure. What would she do? Walk into the middle of nowhere and call for Kelly?

Mike interrupted her thoughts. "Guys, we're at the boundary line."

Sure enough, staring at them in the face was a sign for none other than Montana. _Welcome to Montana, the Treasure State! _The sign announced happily. Diana sighed in relief. "Wow, it's so good to be back here," Diana stated.

"So, Diana," said Amy, "where does your aunt live?"

Diana suddenly looked frightened. "Uh…"

"Do you know where she lives, Di?" asked Peter, who had taken a fatherly role to the young teenager.

"Uh…kind of?"

"What do you mean _kind of?_" Mike asked. Maggie could see he was trying desperately to be patient, but anger shone clearly in his cobalt eyes.

"Er…well, last I remember, she lived in Bozeman," Diana said, and Maggie could tell she was choosing her words carefully. "But I don't know _where _in Bozeman."

Peter looked like he was barely refraining from swearing. Janine was the only one with a calm expression. "It's okay, Diana. We'll find your aunt. I mean, how big is Bozeman, really?"

"According to a recent census," Amy said dully, "over thirty-seven _thousand _people live there."

Maggie slouched. "Great. That's just brilliant."

Janine would not back down. "Look, Amy, one of them has to be her relative. And besides, with the recent death tolls(Maggie shuddered inwardly)there's probably only half of them left."

"What if one of them is Aunt Elisa?" Diana asked, obviously saddened and frightened out of her mind.

Janine's stone-hard exterior softened, and she put her hand on Diana's shoulder. "Well, then, you can come and stay with us as long as you need to, okay, Diana? I promise it'll be alright." Janine sounded so sincere that Maggie almost believed her.

Almost.

Mike sighed. "Much as I hate saying it, she's right. Di, we'll find your aunt. And then, afterwards, Maggie, we'll find you a working plane and I'll fly you home personally."

Maggie grinned. "Thank you, Mike. That means a lot to me. Diana, don't you worry. It'll be alright."

Charlotte sighed and pretended to check her watch. "Okay, gang. Blue Team, moving out!" Mike, Amy, Peter and Janine quickly marched off past the sign next to Charlotte. Maggie and Diana stayed stock-still. "I don't understand that reference," Maggie called helplessly, looking at Diana.

"What? Like I do?" Diana scoffed. "I'm only nineteen!"

"I'm twenty-eight," Maggie offered.

Diana's mouth dropped. "Really? But you look so young!"

Maggie shrugged. "I work out, and worry doesn't age me." _If anything, it ages me in reverse. I feel like I should be younger than Diana right about now, _Maggie added inwardly, striding after Diana, who had run off after the rest of their friends.

"Maggie!" Janine was yelling.

"I'm coming," Maggie shouted back. She blinked the dust out of her eyes, took a deep breath, and walked past the state sign, knowing that she was getting one step closer to finding her boys.

(*) (*)

That night, they had decided to settle down in the middle of a clearing in the heavily wooded landscape. Diana, however, wouldn't have it. "I need to find my aunt!" she angrily said. "We can't just _sit _here, not now! We're so close!"

Even Janine looked tired from dealing with Diana. "Di, we're exhausted, we need to eat, and you do too."

"No, I don't," Diana rebutted. "I can do this all day."

"Well, it's night, so too bad for you," Charlotte weakly responded, holding her head in her hands while Mike and Peter tried to coax a blaze from the damp wood that they had gathered.

Amy was next on the consolation platform. "Please, Diana. We need to be rested so we can go even longer to try and find your Aunt Elisa. If we continue, chances are one of us will drop dead."

Maggie quickly decided to intervene. "Diana, what she means to say is—"

"I see exactly what's going on here," Diana accused. "You're just trying to weasel out of it! Well, I'm not gonna! I need to—"

"Diana?" Maggie interrupted. "If you don't sleep, you won't make it five feet into the forest. You'll be off-guard and someone will try to kill you and we won't be able to protect you. Do you want that on our consciences? Because if you do, go ahead and leave." Maggie dropped her backpack on the ground, took a match out of it, lit it, and started the fire while Mike and Peter looked on in amazement. "Go ahead, Di. We'll come back for your remains in the morning."

Diana looked sick, saddened, and ten years older. "I need to find my family."

"So do I. So do we," Maggie said slowly. "But you don't see me doing anything crazy, right?"

Janine snorted. "Yeah, Maggie. We'd stop you."

"Hey!" Maggie said in anger, only to realize that Janine was teasing. "Look, Diana. We'll rest for five hours tops, and we'll head out. Deal?"

Finally, Diana nodded. "You've got a deal." Maggie stiffened and prayed that Janine and the others wouldn't notice as a flashback of her and Kelly's argument played vividly in her mind with full Technicolor.

"_Kelly, would you please check the mail?" their mother asked, not looking up from her magazine. Maggie and her father were playing a game of chess, and Kelly was writing in her red notebook. Kelly sighed dramatically, as if she'd been asked to donate a kidney. "All right," she stated, walked over to the door and picked up the mail, distributing it to each member of the family. "Dad, for you. Maggie, for you. Mum, it's a letter from Dr. North for you. And—" she gasped. "One for me!" she lamely covered with. "I'll be right back, everyone" she got out before rushing into her bedroom and slamming the door shut._

"_What was that about?" Maggie asked her dad._

"_Dunno, love. Would you check on your sister, make sure she's alright?"_

"_Absolutely," Maggie said, jumping up from her game. "Checkmate, by the way, Dad."_

_She ran into the room that she shared with her sister, only to find that Kelly was curled up on the floor in shock, her letter torn open on the floor._

"_Kelly? Are you alright?" Maggie asked._

"_I got accepted," Kelly said in shock._

"_You what?"_

"_I got accepted into Georgia University," Kelly repeated. "Oh, my word."_

"_Georgia University?" Maggie asked. "I didn't know you applied."_

"_I got a full scholarship," Kelly groaned. "Oh, my god, what're Mum and Dad going to say? Maggie—"_

"_Why'd you apply to a university in America?" Maggie asked, nonplussed._

"_Because I'm sick of this place, Maggie," Kelly said angrily. "Any other questions?"_

"_No…but what're you telling Mum and Dad?"_

"_I'm not going to."_

"_Wha-what?"_

"_I'm not telling, and you aren't either, got it, sis? Not a word. Deal?"_

_Out of her loyalty to her sister, Maggie nodded and stuck out her hand. "You've got a deal."_

Maggie snapped out of her trance. "What?"

Janine waved her hand in front of Maggie's face. "Sorry, it looked like you zoned out."

"Oh. I'm…I'm just tired," Maggie said unconvincingly.

Amy nodded. "Uh, huh. Well, Diana already hit the hay." She pointed at the youngest member of the group, who had fallen fast asleep on the ground.

Charlotte had been staring into the orange flames. Maggie was about to ask what was the matter before she saw Charlotte mouthing something.

"Charlotte?" Maggie asked. "Are you quite alright?"

"Huh? I'm fine. I'm just thinking of a campfire song that Mikey and I used to sing all the time," Charlotte said with a loving glance at her husband.

"Which song?" Maggie asked. "I've been on my fair share of camping trips—"

"Really?" Amy asked. "Where?"

"Around Wales and other places," Maggie informed Amy.

"_I'll light the fire, you put the flowers in the vase that you bought today. Staring at the fire for hours and hours while I listen to you play your love songs all night long for me, only for me,_" Mike sang suddenly, filling the forest with his low, yet charming, voice.

Peter grinned. "_Come to me now and rest your head for just five minutes, everything is good. Such a cozy room, the windows are illuminated by the sunshine through them, fiery gems for you, only for you—"_

"_Our house is a very, very fine house with two cats in the yard, life used to be so hard, now everything is easy cause of you and our la, la, la_," Janine and Amy chimed in, singing in perfect unison, Charlotte right on their heels.

Maggie grinned. Their singing was contagious, and she soon found herself joining in. _"Our house is a very, very fine house with two cats in the yard, life used to be so hard, now everything is easy cause of you and our la, la, la…I'll light the fire, you put the flowers in the vase that you bought today."_

"You sing really well, Mike," Amy said in surprise. "Did you use to be a singer?"

Mike scratched the back of his neck, sounding uncomfortable. "Yeah. I sang in bars all the time. I even opened for Tom Petty once, way back in the day."

"Sing House of the Rising Sun," Janine suddenly said, looking so wistful that Maggie almost asked her to elaborate. "I love that song."

Mike grinned, and he punched Peter in the shoulder. "What do you think, old man? You know the song?"

"Who doesn't?" Peter retorted.

"Whaddya waiting for? Sing away," Amy said teasingly, her blonde hair whipping around her face. "Come on, Petey."

Peter's jaw clenched before reluctantly breaking out in a verse of _Animal's _finest.

"_There is a house in New Orleans, they call the Rising Sun, and it's been the ruin of many a poor boy, and God I know I'm one," _Peter sang, and Maggie almost wished that she had a guitar to accentuate the mood.

"_My mother was a tailor, she sewed my new blue jeans—" _Charlotte started to sing, her voice high and childlike.

"_My father was a gamblin' man, down in New Orleans,"_ Amy followed, her voice low, like Peter's.

"_Now the only thing a gambler needs_—" Janine sang loudly, strumming an air guitar.

"_Is a suitcase and trunk_," Maggie added her own chorus.

"_And the only time he's satisfied—"_

_Is when he's on a drunk,_" Maggie finished, laughing along with the others. This was more fun than she'd had in a while.

"Organ solo!" Mike shouted, and pretended to bang out the keys on an invisible organ. Charlotte, Maggie, and Amy cracked up.

"_Oh mother tell your children_," Janine started up, "_not to do what I have done. Spend your lives in sin and misery…In the House of the Rising Sun,"_ she added, almost as an afterthought. Diana sat up and stirred.

"_Well, I got one foot on the platform_," Mike sang, as if answering Janine. "_The other foot on the train—"_

"_I'm going back to New Orleans_," sang Diana, much to the surprise of everyone else, with a country twang, "_to wear that ball and chain_."

And at the end, they all sang along with the chorus:

"_Well, there is a house in New Orleans…They call the Rising Sun…And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy…"_ sang Maggie, Janine, Amy, Peter, Mike, Charlotte, and Diana.

"_and God I know I'm one," _Mike finished, and Diana and Charlotte rocked out on their air guitars. Maggie and Janine even played along on their pretend organ.

Diana laughed and clapped her hands. "Yeah!" she whistled. "Encore, encore!"

Maggie giggled, smiling at Diana's antics. "That was actually really fun," Maggie insisted. "I loved that."

"Me, too," stated Janine, panting. "Whoa. I haven't sang that hard since I worked in bars on karaoke nights."

"We have _got _to do that more often," Amy stated simply. "I mean, how else are we supposed to maintain a positive attitude?"

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "We can always become the apocalypse's personal glee club."

Mike, Peter and Diana cracked up. "Would we get paid?" Amy joked.

"Maybe they'll pay us in batteries," Maggie said, and was surprised when everyone at the campsite started laughing.

"Janine?" Diana suddenly spoke up.

"Yeah, babygirl?"

"Are you ever going to tell us about your past?"

Maggie, Amy, Charlotte and Peter stiffened. Mike winced. Janine looked frozen. The good mood that they had all worked themselves into was gone, evaporated in the wind.

Janine sighed. "It's not a pleasant tale, Di. Really. There's so much angst in it you could put it to music. But I will tell you guys about my past. Someday. Just not now."

Diana didn't argue, something Maggie was wholly surprised by.

"Um…okay," Mike said. "Well, it's been a long day and I think we need our rest before finding Diana's aunt and a working airplane for Maggie. Hit the hay, everybody. I'll take first watch. Pete, I'll wake you up in a couple of hours, okay? Night, guys."

"Good night, Mike," the others chorused, even Peter. Maggie lay down and covered herself up with a towel that she had taken from the hotel in Seattle. As she lay on her back, looking at the stars, she snuck a peak at the others: Peter, who had curled up next to his wife, as if protecting her from the outside world; Amy, whose eyes were already closed; Charlotte, whose body still shook from laughter; Mike, who was keeping a paranoid watch on the others; Diana, who was still sitting up, looked like she was reading the small Bible that she had brought along with her, and Janine, who was staring up at the stars like she would never see them again. Maggie closed her eyes with barely suppressed tears. The others were slowly but surely growing onto her, she thought. _They were becoming my family, _she realized. Family. A strange, foreign concept that she had not been a part of for quite some time.

_Callum, Elliott, _she thought, _don't you worry. _Before she dropped off to Dreamland, she murmured, "Mommy's coming."

**Well, then. How about that? I hopefully have shown some light on my OC's, including Maggie. For those of you who read the last chappie, who can remember why Parris Island was so important to the show? I'll give you a hint: our two favorite badass boys are coming up in Kelly's perspective.**

**Tune in next time for another chapter of Eternal Affections, which will feature Kelly Foster. Happy authors post faster, so read and review!**

**-Boa **


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